CROATIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS CLOSER TO THE RULING
PARTY

Supek not President Any More

AIM Zagreb, 19 December, 1997

After two three-year mandates, from 1991 until 1997,
Ivan Supek could not be re-elected to the post of the
president of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU). Ivo
Padovan, othorhinolaryngologist with a world reputation,
replaced him on 16 December and he will be at the post of the
president of HAZU for the next three years. Although the
statute of the Academy does not prescribe any form of
"presidential campaign", moreover there are even certain
limitations in presentation of candidates, this campaign
nevertheless took place and everybody agrees - it has never
been fiercer and filthier, and the results, like in numerous
similar situations, were fixed, arranged and rearranged in the
presidential palace of the Croatian president.

Ever since the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) came to
power, a fierce process of instrumentalisation of all
institutions in Croatia began, scientific and cultural
inclusive, all in order to put them in the service of keeping
HDZ in power. The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and
the Croatian PEN have remained the only institutions in that
ruthless seven-year war that the HDZ has not managed to
silence and get control of. Nothing but the name has remained
of European Croatia which Boris Maruna day-dreamed about, the
first writer of Croatian diaspora who has recently said
goodbye to editting the biweekly for culture Vijenac published
by Matica Hrvatska, while other things and processes we are
witnessing nowadays just confirm the old truth that people who
distinguish themselves with knowledge, ambition, energy and
wisdom, fare the worst in Croatia, Maruna concluded
pessimistically in his farewell speech.

There is plenty of evidence for such a stand. When the
authorities cannot close down faculties, they decide to
establish new ones, such as the Croatian studies and the
affiliated studies of journalism. The acute international
pressure exerted on Croatia because of limitted freedom of the
press resulted in foundation of a large number of journals,
but unsuccessful and mostly with a low circulation, such as
Hrvatski obzor or even those which openly advocate intolerance
to everything that is contrary to daily policy of the current
authorities, in which Hrvatsko slovo, allegedly "weekly for
culture" of the Society of Croatian writers blazes a trail.
The attempt to establish a parallel union of journalists
ingloriously failed although Hloverka Srzic Novak was supposed
to be its head, but introduction of the value-added tax which
is coming into force on the first day of next year will put
book publishers into the same position like ashtray
manufacturers - the tax of 22 per cent will not be avoided
even by books, which was evaluated by the publishers as the
worst blow struck against Croatian culture "since the seventh
century". If one adds to this picture of anti-intellectualism
and general rustication the fact that the Institute for Social
Studies was put under control of the HDZ, independence of HAZU
and PEN became even more terrible for the ruling party.

Ivan Supek, nowadays the head of the Movement for
Democracy and Social Justice, non-partisan and
non-governmental organization, could remain the president of
HAZU as long as he did not oppose decisions of the ruling
team, decisions which most frequently were neither reasonable
nor had anything in common with brains. The move that the
regime will never forgive Supek for is that he intervened with
German chancellor Helmut Kohl explaining the insaneness of the
war between the Croats and the Muslims in B&H, after which
estrangement occurred in very friendly relations of Germany
towards Croatia. Opposition to policy of Tudjman and the HDZ
towards B&H made Supek the "villain", and it was just a matter
of time when the regime would set out to square accounts with
him. Supek, the world known, highly esteemed and influential
intellectual was too big a risk which the regime did not wish
to take until recently.

The detonator of the explosion and the beginning of
barrage at Supek was the letter written by Franjo Tudjman,
member of the Academy, to Ivan Supek, member of the Academy,
on 20 June this year, six months before Supek's presidential
mandate in HAZU expired. In this "Open Letter" which was given
the largest space and attention by Vjesnik, Tudjman accused
Supek of supporting forces which, as the Croatian president
chose to interpret, wished to kill him, quoting Supek's
interview to Feral Tribune and a note from Tjednik as main
evidence. All those quoted in the "Open Letter" replied - the
Feral, and the Tjednik, and Supek, of course, but plaintiff
Tudjman did not appear in public concerning this matter any
more. As so many times before, he stated a thesis, but it was
not his business to waste time with it any more. The
elaboration of the thesis was taken over by president's
toadies and flatteres who do not mind being close to any
authorities - communist or the so-called democratic, and who
rejected their dignity for the "sake of a higher cause", such
as "lying for the homeland".

The starting point for silencing Supek and moreover
for disciplining HAZU was the thesis that the Academy had to
be above daily politics, and this was supposed to mean that it
should not at all be engaged in it, except for its department
of politicology. "HAZU must deal with politics only where it
is supposed to - in its department of politicology", declared
Ivo Padovan the newly elected president of the Academy to
Tjednik, back in August when he was still just one of the
candidates for president. This statement was just a
confirmation of the demand launched in public some time before
that by Zeljko Bujas, also member of the Academy and apologist
of HDZ authorities. According to his opinion, "institutional
individuality of HAZU makes it an irreplaceable element of
Croat identity", which served him to draw the conclusion that
"president of HAZU with his responsible position above daily
politics must himself be an unquestionable part of such
institutional individuality", so that by its Statute, HAZU
should ban its president public appearances on current social
and political issues. This paved the way to election of the
new president, and criteria according to which he would be
elected. Exceptions from not appearing in public could be made
by the future president only in case of expressing support
abroad to the policy pursued at home, it was additionally
suggested.

Ten days before the elections in the Academy, Supek
concluded that the choice of the president would reflect the
choice "whether the Academy will continue with independent
policy, therefore, with persons who are not subordinate to any
party, or whether the decision would be to have a team which
is more or less inclined to president Tudjman and the HDZ".
The decision to elect Ivo Padovan to be the new president of
the Academy resolved this dilemma in favour of Tudjman and the
HDZ. Although Padovan nowadays enjoys a reputation of an
exceptional scientist, politically he stands on the positions
of the HDZ, as he openly manifested by supporting their last
election campaign. Nobody had any doubts nor questioned this
appearance of his as a political appearance in public which
might not belong to politicology. Vladimir Paar and Ivan
Aralica, both members of the Academy, the latter being also a
member of the supreme advisory body of the president of the
Republic, also passed over in silence this appearance of
Padovan's, although they were the very ones who replied to
Supek and his stand that "HAZU must not shut itself up in
ivory towers of science and arts, but participate more openly
in resolving social problems", assessing this as inappropriate
for "modern times".

All decisions in the Academy are reached by a "silent
majority", and Supek knew very well what that meant. "Each
members of the Academy (...) must make more money, must ensure
promotion for his children and grandchildren, and he can do it
only if he cooperates with the HDZ. Because HDZ holds all the
money, the entire Croatian economy. Therefore, people adjust.
(...) I know members of the Academy who have 30 thousand kunas
a month, who are members of various boards and have other
sources of income. Therefore, corruption has also permeated to
a certain extent intellectual circles", declared Supek
recently. He did not give any names, so it remained an open
question whether he, perhaps, had in mind Vlatko Pavletic,
president of the Croatian State Assembly (as the Assembly is
called since a few days ago) who has added membership in
supervisory boards to his title of the member of the Academy.

After all, election of Padovan for the president of
the Academy was a choice that could not be avoided. His rival
Vlatko Silobrcic simply did not stand a chance, since,
following in the steps of Supek's views, declared that the
Academy's stands were insufficiently respected, and that "its
voice must be heard" when longterm interests of Croatia are at
stake, due to all the forms of pressure, withdrawal of
financial support to the Academy's departments, and even open
threat by the President. That is how the Academy bent its
backbone and joined the destroyed science, dilapidated
institutes, instrumentalised universities and an avalanche of
trash which has replaced art in the state which educated
youngsters are mercilessly runing away from.